Hormones

I'm 47, started with PVC's for over a year.  Personally, I think it is related to hormones - since I'm 47.  I PMD thinks it is 'stress" tells me not to worry. Normally I am not an anxious person, I've never been treated for anxiety - and see my Doctor about once every 5 years. Until I got the PVC's, I've seen her 3 times in the last year.

I work as an ED nurse which gives me the option to though on a cardiac monitor and check out my rhythum. I noticed on the average I get about 12-28 PVC's a minute. They are unifocal, with frequent couplets up to 2-3 pairs per minute.  I get these daily, often lasting for hours. I've tried beta blocker - which totally drains me.  My PMD tells me not to worry and recommends Ativan. Which I don't take b/c I'm not nervous until I get these things. Secondly, I am convienced they are caused by a hormone inbalance. My K and TSH were normal.

With all that said.  I have a few questions: 1.  Are PVC's related to perimenopause?  2.  When should I be concerned about the number of PVC's I get per minute?  3.  If you feel that PVC's are related to hormone deficiency which specialist should I see (gyn, endocrinologist)

[debbier]

Hi,

Have you been evaluated by a cardiologist for your pvc's and had the usual workup, EKG, Echo, Monitor, Stress test?  If you have and have checked out fine then the amount of them per day is not a concern.

I have pvc's that I believe are perimenopause related.   I recently seen my gyno and they have given me a script to have my hormone levels checked.  

I am taking Atenolol to control the pvc's and its working great at the moment.

Good Luck!

[cindy707]

Hey read your post.....the answers are to number 1.  Most definately....we know what happens when our systems begin deleting vital nutrients and we try to beat the clock to replace them...common sense would tell us that we are going to fall short somewhere along the line and unfortunately i had experienced it and ended up with an ablation which worked out excellent. 2. I firmly believe that if you are surpassing your normal run of PVC's during any physical activity that is when the red flag should be thrown up for sure, generally as you know as a nurse PVC's a pretty benign in most people and many times are never even noticed by the pt. and are found during a routine check up and 3.  You need to deal first and foremost with the PVC's and see a heart doc to rule out anything else that may be lurking or is about to lurk and you can usually find a pretty good source for hormone deficiency products at a store like Whole Foods or along those lines.  If it were my body i wouldn't see an endo doc....i'd probably lean towards a GYN myself but even a up to date G.P. was deal with those aspects as well.  As far as taking Ativan i would think twice about it myself because to me you would be masking whatever is going on w. you for a quick fix and that is so not good.  There are alot of BB out there that can help you on the lower end of the spectrum like Antenolol i would give it a shot what do you have to lose?  Keep us posted and i hated that part of my life.....Perimeno....someone should come up with a bigger gun name.....

[trrn]

Yes, I saw a cardiologist last year when this all started. We did the event monitor and it did show pvc's, couplets and a run of 3 in a row. A holter monitor followed the event monitor and of course it was one of those  days when I only had 54 PVC's with a few couplets in 24 hours!  My stress test was normal - rare PVC's.  Again this was all done last year when these runs I would get lasted a few minutes.  Now I can have 54 PVC'sa with multiple couplets in 5 minutes - lasting for hours.  I went to a CRNP for my reg gyn exam, she said take fish oil.  She was not able to relate PVC's with Perimeno. I'm not sure if she knew what a PVC was!  

Now I feel great, having only rare. I do have 25mg of atenolol, in fact I took it the other day b/c of having so many.  They seemd to decrease slightly but what I noticed the most is that they weren't as pronounced in my chest.

I've been an ED nurse for 20 years.  I remember the days when we would immediately treat with IV lidocaine any PVC's greater than 6 per minute.  Those days are over. Now when people come in we do treat with K if needed or Mag, IV beta blocker or even amiodarone - depending on the pts age.  Each doc has their own ideas and potion for treating these things.  I have seen teenagers with bi and trigeminy and d/c to home with no treatment. But usually when they get to be about 47 - my age, the docs give something for the frequent PVC's.

[cindy707]

No kidding times have changed....for the better as we fine tune life with newer and better knowledge.....I understand the quick fix with the antenolol but being a nurse i am sure you realize for maximum benefit you should be taking it daily not PRN ,  Antenolol is almost becoming a maintenance med for people even w/out issues and i won't be surprised to see it being scripted out just for that in the near future.  .25 as you know is one of the lowest doses cardios give us.  There you go w. the docs not recognizing a PVC .....i sometimes think they think it is a plumbing pipe LOL.....i have a pretty extensive medical background so thank God i know what end is up...but as you know that can be worse than the general public that don't know....we tend to be the worst pts. out there and man are we ever fast in telling them how to treat us.....i have had this terrible habit of how to put the line in me when things have happened and what dose to put into the flow....ouch.....they tend to give me a little happy juice to shut me up....but i don't care i'm still right....i'd find someone in your area to take care of this so you aren't second guessing the doc find someone that is a one stop shop doc....diagnostic, surgeon, EP mapper, surgeon and then you know you'll have found the right doc.  Took me a while but i found mine and he is only 38 and has done more than 1500 ablations w. zero losses.........we could go on and on about how it used to be but remember when we used to push Thorazine thru pts. lines to calm them down??? EEEEWWWWW !!!!!